Coke vs Pepsi.
Pronto Pups vs corn dogs.
Great contests and debates that learned and passionate people have engaged in for years. (Okay, maybe not so much the Pronto Pups & corn dogs. Because, y'know, Pronto Pups.)
Surely, Elvis vs the Beatles is counted amongst them.
Well, okay, there's probably been far more intense debates, involving pints and 16 oz bottles, in bars and by campfires over the years about the Beatles and the Stones. And it's probably even an apples and oranges comparison. Elvis was a singer, an entertainer. He didn't stray too far from who he was and what he did. The Beatles were songwriters, a band. They took risks, explored, they were artists.
And yet, how can they not be compared? Album sales, cultural impact, body of work. You find them at the headwaters of generations of pop stars, musicians, and probably more that nobody's heard of. (And, yes, there are many even further up those waters that influenced Elvis, John, Paul, George, and Ringo.)
I'm not even sure what the ultimate question here would be. Who's more popular? Who's better? Who's influence was greatest?
The Numbers
They both sold a $%#@ ton of records, tapes, and CDs. The Beatles are the best selling band, Elvis the best selling artist. The Beatles are the all time #1, and Elvis #2. Both having moved over 200 million "units". Probably a lot of overlap on those #'s. And both bought each other's records.
Film
For sheer body of work, Elvis gets the nod with some 30 odd movies. And his movies were popular. Yes, in most of them he played a guy who was a [name of profession], who also happened to sing. Pretty simple & effective formula. People love to hear Elvis sing, they'll love him singing in a movie, and then they'll love listening to what he sang in the movie on the movie soundtrack. You put all that together, and you get a big mother#$%@in' movie check.
Critical successes? Not so much.
The Albums
The amount of releases for Elvis and the Beatles is crazy nuts. You have the original releases, and then the greatest hits albums, collected editions, special editions, box sets, special edition collected box sets. Crazy redicunuts. And it also speaks to how we're all kind of a bunch of suckers for continuing to buy the same thing that's just been wrapped differently. But that's why we're fans.
Having said that, when you talk about original releases, the edge has to go to the Beatles. Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Let it Be, even the most casual of fans can claim to have a favorite Beatles album.
If had a gun pointed at my TV, I couldn't name an original Elvis album. And speaking of TV...
Television
Before Kim Kardashian ever tried to break the internet, Elvis and the Beatles damn near broke TV. Both showed up on Ed Sullivan and bajillions of people watched them. More on TV in a bit.
Etc.
Well, both John Lennon and Elvis were the subjects of biographies penned by Albert Goldman. Both pieces were widely considered third rate, hatchet jobs.
Paul McCartney was kicked out of a country over drugs. Elvis showed up unannounced, with a GUN, to see the president, got in to see him, and walked out with a DEA badge. (And people think the Secret Service has dropped the ball with the president today.)
The Beatles were each visible activists for any number of causes. The King, not so much (although his generosity and charity were the stuff of folklore).
Many artists & performers may have loved Elvis, but many, many more, from country acts, to rock, alternative, punk, and even metal, wanted to be in the Beatles.
Having said that...
Yep, John, Paul, George, and Ringo went to meet Elvis. Not vice versa. And while Elvis might have liked their music, the Beatles idolized him. But the thing, for me, that kinda' clinches it? This...
The '68 Comeback Special
Legend has it that the idea for the show was sparked when Elvis was walking alone on Hollywood Boulevard, and nobody recognized him. But even if that's not true, his film & recording career had started to slide, particularly with the onset of the British invasion. And for one of the few times in his career, Elvis ignored Col. Tom Parker's vision (who wanted a more traditional holiday standards show, and may have even attempted to sabotage what the show eventually became), and instead placed his trust in the vision of producer/director Steve Binder. And what we got was one of the all time great pop music performances ever captured on film.
The Beatles may have been the Fab Four, but this was The King.
I read that Elvis allegedly told Binder upon completion of the project that he was never going to do something that he didn't care about ever again. If only that had held true. Not long after this, he returned to touring.
The Beatles split up in 1970, but Elvis continued. And for several years, he delivered great performances. Yeah, John, Paul, George, and Ringo all had successful solo careers, but strictly speaking, Elvis outlasted the Beatles. Unfortunately, outlasting doesn't necessarily mean he did so gracefully. The 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert was another cultural benchmark, but from there his marriage fell apart, he continued to spiral downward into addiction and finally passed in '77.
Mark Chapman assassinated John Lennon in '80, thus ending all hopes for a true Beatles reunion. There was a sorta' reunion in the mid-90's with the Beatles Anthology. Cancer took Harrison in 2001. And Ringo & Paul kept being Ringo & Paul. And still get together and do stuff like this...
And now I'm kinda' like, "What was my %$#@in' point?" I don't know. I think I was going to try some sort of boxing analogy and give it to Elvis with a split decision. But again, what's the point? Both were massive, both were cultural zeitgeists. And both ended far, far before their time.
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